Goner
by Somthing9999
Summary: Gale's son, Leander, is enjoying his time hunting in the woods of District 12 but he finds a girl with dark hair and blue eyes that took his breath away. Sorry for the crappy summary. One shot. Gale's son/Katniss and Peeta's daughter.


The woods in here are big, much bigger than the ones back in district 2. We moved here because dad got transferred from his job. Now we live in district 12. We have a house near Grandma Hazelle, Uncle Vic, Uncle Rory, and Aunt Possy. Dad and I are here in the woods. He's teaching me more about hunting. Dad loves hunting. He has taught me about hunting ever since I turned 10. He's a real genius. He taught me how to make amazing snares. We're setting one up right now. After we set it up we walk away and look for a place to sit down for a moment to relax.

"You just wait champ, at any moment you'll get some game. The old man's still got it!" My dad huffed patting my back as we sat down.

He sighs and looks to the top of the trees.

"It's been a while. I've missed this. I wonder if Catnip still goes out to hunt…"

I look at my father raising my eyebrows.

"Catnip?"

He chuckles and looks at me.

"An old friend of mine."

"Named Catnip?"

Dad laughs pretty hard.

"No, her name was Katniss. We became friends in these very woods when I was about 14 years old. She was amazing. I loved her… and I wanted to marry her…"

I stare at my dad dumbfounded.

"You wanted to marry her? But what about mom?"

"That was before I met your mom. When I was younger I fell in love with a girl named Katniss Everdeen. But even though she didn't know it at the time, she was in love with another guy. So she ran off with freaking Mellark the baker."

"But why would she pick the baker when she could've had you?" I ask him.

"Because he was what she needed…"

I don't understand his answer. I open my mouth to say something but I'm interrupted.

"Oh look at the time! I have to get to work. You're gonna stay here a little bit longer right champ?"

I nod yes.

"Well here have this. It was mine when I was young, now it's yours." He said handing me some bows and arrows.

I look at him.

"Really?"

"Yeah champ, it's all yours." He said as the walked away.

"See you later, and don't stay out too late. Your mom is going to have both our heads if you stay out too long. And also today is your uncle's birthday so make sure you come home before sunset." He yelled out as he walked further.

Now I'm alone in the woods. I look around for things to hunt while I think about dad's story. How could anyone pick someone over my dad? He's a genius and he has a good job. I follow my dad's hunting advice. Walk slowly, take slow and deep breaths, and relax as I move. I see a couple of birds and squirrels but every time I shoot an arrow I miss. As I'm fetching an arrow from the trunk of a tree I remember the snare dad and I set up. I should go check on it. I walk to where dad and I set it up. I finally see the snare; it actually caught something, a rabbit. But it's not just the snare. I see a girl looking over the rabbit. A pretty girl. She has the Seam look. I didn't really know what that really meant when some old woman told me I looked just like my dad and that I had the Seam look. Dad later told me that it was the dark hair, olive skin, and grey eyes. She mostly had the Seam look, but she had blue eyes instead of grey. She was going to steal it. I'm not going some girl steal my rabbit. I walk over to the girl.

"Hey that's mine! Get away from it!" I yell.

"I wasn't going to steal your rabbit I swear!" She says raising her hands above her head.

"Of course you weren't!" I say sarcastically.

"I wasn't! I just wanted to see your snare. It's really amazing." She said looking closer at the snare.

"Of course it's amazing!" I said proudly.

I look at her hand and I see she's holding a bow of her own.

"Can I hunt with you?" She asked.

I look at her questionably. I've only gone hunting with my dad. I don't know if I want to hunt with some girl. But before I can say anything she goes ahead and tells me to follow her. I take a deep breath and decide to follow her.

"I'm Lily by the way." She said stretching out her hand.

"I'm Leander Hawthorne." I said slowly taking her hand and shaking it.

We travel through the forest together. I keep my distance between her and me. I don't talk to her much either. As we walk through the forest I notice Lily makes way too much noise. She breathes loudly; she steps hard on the ground, and also steps on every branch on the ground.

"You make too much noise!" I finally say.

"What?"

"You're practically warning all of the animals that we're coming to get them! You need to relax. Take slower quieter breaths. Slower steps. Just follow my lead." I say walking past her.

She followed my example. Now she's quieter. She still makes some noise but it's better than before. We see a squirrel. I load an arrow and I let it fly but I miss.

"You have lousy aim."

I furrow my eyebrows at her.

"Like you could do any better!"

She smirks at me.

"I'll show you…" She said as she turned around and pointed at another squirrel.

He loads an arrow on her bow and pulls it back. She turned to me and whispered.

"I'll get it right in the eye."

I scoff at her. If she can't even walk without scaring every game around in the area how can she hope to hit it? She let go of the arrow and I see the squirrel fall from the tree. My eyes snap open. She actually got it. But it's impossible that she got it through the eye. We both walk over to the squirrel and I see it clearly. The arrow in the eye. It's a clean shot. Amazing! I look at her awestruck.

"See, I told you!" She says proudly.

I'm still amazed. How does she have that amazing aim?

"Want to take a break? I have some bread and cookies we can share." She tells me.

I just silently nod. She then leads me to this little lake in the forest. We sit down with our hunt and she gives me some bread and cookies.

"You have to teach me how to aim like you!" I tell her.

"Only if you teach me how to make a snare like yours. Deal?" She says stretching her hand.

"Deal." I say shaking her hand.

I look up to the sky and I see the clouds. I start to enjoy the singing of the birds. Back in district 2 there weren't many singing birds. I like the birds in this place too.

"They're Mockingjays you know." Lily suddenly voiced.

"What?" I ask.

"The birds. They're Mockingjays."

I look away and I listen to the song. Suddenly I hear someone else sing. The voice is so beautiful. The birds stopped singing. I look over to Lily and I see that she was the one singing. Her voice… it's amazing. I scoot closer to her. She finished singing and quickly she catches me staring at her.

"What are you staring at?" She asked freaked out.

"Uh… Nothing…" I stutter.

I take a bite of the bread and look over back to her.

"Your singing is pretty." I whisper.

"Thank you."

I look up at the sun and I realize that I have to get home. I get up.

"I have to go home. Wanna come hunting again tomorrow?" I ask her.

"Sure. I'll meet you tomorrow right here."

"Ok I'll see you tomorrow."

I walk out of the woods with my rabbit and start walking through town. I can't get Lily out of my head. Her pretty blue eyes, her pretty face, her voice. I see dad walking out of work.

"Dad!" I call out.

He turns around and smiles at me. I run to him.

"Hey champ! You had any fun hunting?" He said ruffling my hair.

"Yeah. I caught a rabbit with your snare."

"That's great buddy!"

I look down to the ground and shuffle my feet.

"I met a girl in the woods too…"

"Oh?" Dad said.

"I thought she was going to steal my rabbit but she didn't. She said she was just looking at the snare…"

"Uh huh?" Dad said.

"And she asked if she could hunt with me. We went together but she's horrible at walking quietly because she makes an awful lot of noise. But later I saw her shoot a squirrel right in the eye! It was incredible!"

"She sounds incredible…"

"And her voice… dad she sings so pretty that even the birds stopped singing! She's amazing dad I think I love her!"

Dad stood frozen in front of me. He looked almost shocked.

"Dad? Why are you looking at me like that?"

He shook his head.

"No reason champ. It's just that something you said reminded me of someone for a moment. Hey would you mind if we stop at the bakery for a moment?"

"Freaking Mellark's bakery?" I ask him.

"Yeah bud, his name's not really freaking Mellark. I just call him that for fun."

We walked to the bakery. We walked in and dad ran the bell. A blonde man with blue eyes came out. He looked surprised to see my dad in his store.

"Gale?"

"Hey Mellark." Dad greeted.

"What brings you over here?" He asked cheerfully.

"I wanted to see if you could make me a cake real quick. It's Rory's birthday today." Dad said.

"Ah yes! It'll take some time but I can have it ready before nightfall. You can wait for it here if you want." Mr. Mellark said.

"Well I have to take care of some other stuff. Would you mind if my son stays to wait for it?" Dad said patting my shoulder.

"Yeah no problem."

"Alright then. I'll be right back buddy. Just wait with Mellark over here for the cake alright?"

"Alright."

He ruffled my hair and walked out of the store.

"So Gale's boy huh? What's your name buddy?"

"Leander."

"Well Leander want to come inside to the kitchen? Waiting out there gets awfully lonely."

I nod and I follow Mellark into the kitchen.

"What is your name? Your actual name, dad always calls you Mellark."

He chuckled as he threw some things inside a bowl.

"My name is Peeta, Peeta Mellark."

"Oh! So you're the baker dad said that the girl he loved ran off with!" I say.

He freezes up.

"Um… Yeah… I guess you can put it like that." He says awkwardly.

"Dad told me she fell in love with you because you're what she needed. But how did you fall in love with… um…" I say trying to remember her name.

"Katniss?" Mr. Mellark asked chuckling.

"Yeah, Katniss! How did you fall in love with her?"

"Well it's kind of a long story. When I was little and I was going to school for the first time my father pointed her out. He told me that he wanted to marry her mother but that she ran off with a coal miner-"

This story sounds similar.

"I asked him why and he told me that when her father sang, even the birds stopped to listen."

Like they did with Lily.

"Well that day in school during music assembly, she sang the Valley Song and when she started singing even the birds stopped singing. And that's when I knew that I loved her."

I kept thinking back to Lily. The pretty girl from the woods. I sigh and I look up, spacing out.

"I know that look. Who is she?" Mr. Mellark teased.

"What?" I asked startled.

"That look in your eyes. It's the same look I got when I was thinking of my wife. Who's the girl?"

I start rubbing the back of my head.

"Just some girl I met today. I think I'm in love with her. She's really pretty and amazing and she has a pretty voice and she's an amazing hunter…"

Mr. Mellark laughed as he put the cake in the oven.

"You know, you're kind of describing my wife there!"

Suddenly I hear her voice. I think I'm going crazy now. But then I see her walk in to the kitchen with the squirrel she shot.

"Daddy I had an amazing day in the woods, I got a squirrel and I also met a boy!" She said.

"Lily?" I ask.

"Leander! What are you doing here?"

I stand up and rub the back of my head while awkwardly shifting my weight on my feet.

"Um… I 'm here for a cake for my uncle."

"Um… you two kids know each other?" Mr. Mellark asked.

"He's the boy I met in the woods daddy!"

Great I just told the father of the girl I'm falling for that I might love her. Maybe he hasn't caught on.

"Oh really?" He said looking back to me.

"Yeah, we are going out hunting again tomorrow." She said.

Ok he has to have caught on by now.

"I'm gonna go tell mom about today."

And with that she leaves. I slowly turn to look at Mr. Mellark. Of course the story sounded familiar to me. I heard it this morning but with different people. I see Mr. Mellark with a wide smile. Oh he knows.

"Well… I'm guessing the girl you were telling me about earlier is none other than my little girl." He laughs.

Well I'm toast.

"Don't worry I wont tell her. You seem like a nice boy Leander."

Wow, is he always this nice? Now I kind of understand why dad's friend ran off with him. Kind of. My dad is still better. Suddenly an older woman comes down to the kitchen.

"Hey Peeta… Well hi, and who might you be?" She asked

"I'm Leander." I say shyly.

"Gale's boy." Mr. Mellark adds.

She looks surprised for a moment.

"You're Gale's son?"

"Yes ma'am."

"I'm Katniss Everdeen. Peeta's wife."

"I know. Dad and Mr. Mellark have told me about you."

Mr. Mellark was finishing off the cake when the bell rings.

"Leander?" I hear dad call.

"Dad?" I call.

"We're in the kitchen. Come on over." Mr. Mellark yells as he frosts the cake.

Dad walks in and smiles at Mr. Mellark's wife.

"Hey Catnip! It's been a while! It's so good to see you again." He says.

"Hi! I'm so glad to see you again. You look well."

"Oh thanks, I see you've met my son." He says patting my shoulder.

"Yes, he looks just like you Gale."

Suddenly Lily comes down.

"Hey Leander! Is this your dad?" She asked looking up to my dad.

"Yeah, this is my dad Gale Hawthorne."

"It's a nice to meet you sir!" She said.

"It's nice to meet you too little lady! Are you friends with my son Ms. Mellark?"

"Yes, we only met today. But we're going hunting tomorrow. I'm going to teach him how to aim better and he's going to teach me how to make snares."

And I bet my dad put the pieces together too. He's a smart man.

"Well I see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it? I'm glad you kids became hunting buddies." Dad said as he patted my shoulder.

Mr. Mellark handed the cake over to my dad and dad handed him the money. Dad and I say goodbye to Katniss and Peeta. Then I turn my attention to Lily.

"Bye Leander! See you tomorrow morning!" She says as she waves goodbye.

I wave goodbye back to her. When dad and I walk out of the bakery I let out a sigh. I can't wait for it to be tomorrow morning.


End file.
